August 09, 2004

Kerry takes on water

Over the weekend additional material has surfaced (pardon the pun) on Kerry's four month adventure in Vietnam.

Most readers will already have visited the sites linked by the hated Instapundit, but the Posse would like to draw out a few salient points.

1. Kerry brought this on himself. When a man makes predicates his right to public office on his record of (supposed) military valor, that valor becomes open to question.

2. It is not unknown for people to claim medals they do not deserve, or honor to which they are not entitled. To pretend that military members are not as other men is ludicrous and self-serving. The blogosphere has run into these situations before, most recently with anti-war non-ranger Micah Wright, whose self-immolation occured earlier this year.

Often this fraudulent claim to military glory is used to deflect other weaknesses, particularly where one's courage or judgement is in question.

3. At the same time Kerry has done his medal strut, he has wasted no opportunity to damn President George W. Bush for not serving in Vietnam. The President's Air National Guard service, however, was on the up and up; no one has found anything wrong with it, despite constant smears to the contrary. So for him to now declare military records off-limits is the height of hypocrisy.

4. Kerry's response thus far shows that the charges have merit. One does not resort to the "nuts and sluts" defense when a clear rebuttal is easy at hand. Attempts to smear and otherwise intimidate both the Swifties and television stations are proof that these charges are too scary to be openly engaged.

Unlike the "Bush AWOL" story, it seems there are no clear facts to exonerate John Kerry. If there were, why delay in getting them out?

At the very least, the Kerry response shows that his brain trust is incapable of dealing with a rapid-moving crisis.

This, more than the charges themselves, shows he is incapable of serving as commander-in-chief in wartime.

People are indicative. They act in fairly predictable ways and by their actions we may learn much about them. That John Kerry doesn't decisively refute these charges but instead sends teams of lawyers to do his bidding tells us much about his character.

It tells us he will try to suppress bad news rather than deal with it. It tells us he will not, as president, take responsibility for his actions.

It also tells us that he will shoot the messenger rather than heed the message, and that any who question his policies can expect a Clintonian character assassination.